Why Ritual?

Aug 19, 2017

RITUALS GIVE US MEANING, RHYTHM AND PURPOSE. THEY MOVE US TOWARD THE INTENTIONS THAT ALREADY REST INSIDE OF US. OUR LIVES EMERGE FROM THE RITUALS WE CHOOSE TO PARTICIPATE IN.

If artful living and exploring ways to craft oneself is the foundation of Acts of Ritual, then what is the ritual part all about? We see ritual simply as a way into the exploration. An entry point. And once inside that exploration, ritual can serve as a structure to guide us.

Rituals give us an opportunity to research the self. An opportunity to craft ourselves. They are a way to approach life creatively.

Ritual may carry a stigma for some people because of its connection to religion. But we believe many things can be ritual. Meditation is a ritual. Yoga is a ritual. Brushing your teeth is a ritual. Making coffee in the morning, reading the daily paper, watching a nightly television show can all be ritual. Performance is a ritual. And ritual requires performance.

Ritual requires that we DO something.

We’ve thought a lot about what distinguishes a performed action as a ritual as opposed to a routine or a habit. For us, the difference lies in what we bring to the action and why we are doing the action to begin with.

A ritual is an action performed with attention.

An action performed with purpose.

Daily. Weekly. Monthly.

It’s an action that asks us to connect. To the cycles of time. To our environment. To ourselves.

Our reasons for performing rituals are many: They create space for us to get grounded. They gives us time to sit with ourselves and ask questions. They are an opportunity to play with energy. They help drive forward a healing process with more clarity and focus. They allow us to build community with ourselves. They are a container for the intentions we set and the realities we’d like to manifest. They let us experiment with shape shifting.

Rituals are a playground for curiosity about what’s inside, so they encourage us to find what we’re looking for from the inside out. They open us to being vulnerable with ourselves. They help us move through our fears and struggles as a way to understand them and use them to drive us forward. And often, transformation is found on the other side of ritual.